Although the idea of Machiavellianism is synonymous for sinister, ruthless, and most often heartless, Machiavelli proves near the end of chapter ten in book one of the Discourses that he in fact does not condone such behavior and even that such will be the root of destruction. In this passage, Machiavelli focuses on what a society is like with a “good” prince versus what a society is like with a “bad” prince. When Machiavelli describes a prince as bad he means that they acquired power by inheritance (with the exception of Titus), and a prince who is good is one who adopts the power (Machiavelli uses the string of leaders between and including Nerva to Marcus as an example). Machiavelli poses the question of what type of city a person
